Photo: Kia
More than five decades after Unsafe at Any Speed was published to the shock of the entire world, automakers still haven’t worked out their mistakes. Kia has issued a recall for more than 30,000 examples of the Telluride, a nameplate launched for the 2020 model year with supposedly state-of-the-art safety features.
The problem? As it happens, workers at the West Point plant in Georgia may have installed seat belt assemblies designed for the Middle East instead of the United States. We’re talking different safety legislation and a few thousand miles between these two markets, and the wrong seat belts encompass the driver, front passenger, second row, and third-row seats of models sold in the U.S. of A.
“Embarrassing” is the lightest word to describe this situation, a problem that stems from the quality control division at the Kia Motors Manufacturing Georgia. The question, why does the Telluride need different seat belts in this part of the world? To make a long story short, United States regulations require the assemblies to feature a lockable lap belt portion to secure the child restraint system.
Kia told the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration that less than one percent of the 30,168 recalled SUVs were built with the incorrect seat belts. In the event of a crash or rollover, the risk of injury or death is higher with this type of assembly as opposed to the seat belts enforced by the federal government.
First-class mail will be used to notify the owners of affected vehicles, and so far, Kia isn’t aware of any events related to the condition. Dealerships were instructed to inspect the assembly and replace the seat belts – all of them – if needed. As expected, owners don’t need to pay a thing for Kia’s awkward blunder.
Affected vehicles were built from January 9th through August 5th, and going forward, the automaker promised the NHTSA that it would inspect every seat belt going into the Telluride on the assembly line. As mentioned beforehand, quality control could’ve identified the problem much sooner if this division were to take more pride in its work.
“Embarrassing” is the lightest word to describe this situation, a problem that stems from the quality control division at the Kia Motors Manufacturing Georgia. The question, why does the Telluride need different seat belts in this part of the world? To make a long story short, United States regulations require the assemblies to feature a lockable lap belt portion to secure the child restraint system.
Kia told the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration that less than one percent of the 30,168 recalled SUVs were built with the incorrect seat belts. In the event of a crash or rollover, the risk of injury or death is higher with this type of assembly as opposed to the seat belts enforced by the federal government.
First-class mail will be used to notify the owners of affected vehicles, and so far, Kia isn’t aware of any events related to the condition. Dealerships were instructed to inspect the assembly and replace the seat belts – all of them – if needed. As expected, owners don’t need to pay a thing for Kia’s awkward blunder.
Affected vehicles were built from January 9th through August 5th, and going forward, the automaker promised the NHTSA that it would inspect every seat belt going into the Telluride on the assembly line. As mentioned beforehand, quality control could’ve identified the problem much sooner if this division were to take more pride in its work.
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